On to the next big thing. You may remember that back in the fall, I was wishing I could bring a Young Authors Conference back to the Heights? Well, I can. And I am. It’ll be on a small scale, not a major district-wide event, but the entire student body at Fairfax School will spend […]
Austin’s preschool teaches physics. And geology, biology and chemistry. They also teach astronomy and astrophysics. Human psychology with a special focus on group dynamics. Geometry, measurement, civil engineering, thermal dynamics and heat transfer (melting crayons in an electric skillet), art therapy, art history and just plain art. There are lots of other things they do, […]
The transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas seems to get shorter and quicker every year. So now that we’ve all moved on to the next big thing, it’s time to think about giving. Every year, I encourage my kids, with limited success, to weed out their toys to make room for the inevitable mass of new […]
My, what a year can do. Austin’s last day of preschool last year: And Austin’s last day of preschool last week: Which of course brings us back to that pesky old question: Was that his last last day of preschool? Weeeellll, I don’t think so. I’ve been leaning more and more in the direction of […]
Soooooo, today was kindergarten registration day at Fairfax. My PTA job doing outreach to the incoming kindergarten families required that I be there for the entire two-and-a-half hour event this evening. I oversaw an art project for the kids who came along with their parents, took families on tours of the building, and answered lots […]
You know how once you start thinking hard about something, it seems to pop up everywhere? Well, this kindergarten things seems to be popping up everywhere. Yesterday, I read this article from a recent Newsweek, which focuses on parents who hold their kids back from kindergarten (often upon the recommendation of the private schools to […]
OK, this will be my final public mulling over when to send Austin to kindergarten. For a little while at least! My big issue right now is that I feel like sending him this coming fall is the RIGHT thing to do. Yes, he would still be only four for the first few weeks, but […]
Thank you for the many thoughtful comments. A few responses: I have certainly talked this over with his preschool teacher, but that has still left me hovering between my two choices. She thinks that he is ready both academically and socially for kindergarten. Her concern is the much less predictable “What about when he’s 10 […]
You know, it’s sort of funny because last spring and summer when we were dealing with the enormous burden of deciding whether or not to remove Austin’s kidney — and even back into the previous fall and winter when we were dealing with the same enormous burden — I kept saying how I wished I […]
I’ve been asked to chime in with my thoughts on the whole Tiger Mother debate. Of course, the entire thing has been commented on by thousands and thousands, but you know I have an opinion, so here goes. First of all, we simply must accept the fact that everyone has the right to parent in their […]